I laid out cotton muslin as my base fabric and quickly layered scrap pieces, wanting to cover the base but keep it spontaneous.

On impulse, I picked up a strip of muslin and laid it over the scraps. On further impulse I laid it in ‘swoops’ as though I were writing. The first words that popped into my mind were “This Side” because that is what I was working on, right? This Side. So naturally what would be the second side of the bag became “The Other Side”. I pinned, then stitched a loose grid at first, to hold everything in place. Then I did insane close stitching so the fabric is held securely and is stronger. I made a decision to break the stitching at each letter but I did vary from this somewhat to keep it more stable. We don’t want our ‘sides’ falling off!

I could elaborate that much of this stitching is done when my mind seems empty of inspiration OR I just need to do something meditative. It’s a sort of therapy for me, I think.

I completed the bag with durable uniform trouser fabric from my “too good to throw away” stash, adding a zipper pocket inside, a loop button closing at top and two handle choices to use.